Knowledge that Transforms

The components of human resource (HR) flexibility and their potential relationship to firm performance have not been empirically examined. The authors hypothesize that flexibility of employee skills, employee behaviors, and HR practices represent critical subdimensions of HR flexibility and are related to superior firm performance. Results based on perceptual measures of HR flexibility and accounting measures of firm performance support this prediction. Whereas skill, behavior, and HR practice flexibility are significantly associated with an index of firm financial performance, the authors find that only skill flexibility contributes to cost-efficiency.

Applicant impression management tactics have been shown to positively influence interviewer evaluations. This study extends previous research by examining the moderating roles of interview structure, customer-contact requirement, and interview length in real employment interviews for actual job openings. Results from 151 applicants of 25 firms showed that the more structured the interview, the weaker the relationship between applicant nonverbal tactics and interviewer evaluation. In addition, when the extent of customer contact required for a job was relatively low, the influence of applicant self-focused tactics on interviewer evaluation was minimized. Furthermore, when the interview was of longer duration, the effects of applicant self-focused tactics became insignificant.